Section 296-32-22540 - Tools and personal protective equipment-General(1) Personal protective equipment (PPE) - Hazard assessment. The employer must identify hazards or potential hazards in the workplace and determine if PPE is necessary on the job as required by WAC 296-800-16005 and 296-800-16010.(2) PPE, protective devices and special tools needed for the work of employees must be provided and the employer must ensure that they are used by employees. (a) PPE must be provided at no cost to the employee. See WAC 296-800-16020, Table-X: Employer responsibility for providing PPE.(b) Before each day's use the employer must ensure that these personal protective devices, tools, and equipment are carefully inspected by a competent person to ascertain that they are in good condition.(c) Tools found to be defective must be taken out of service.(d) Metal tapes, ladders and ropes. (i) Metal measuring tapes, metal ladders, metal measuring ropes, or tapes containing conductive strands must not be used when working near exposed energized parts.(ii) Where it is necessary to measure clearances from energized parts, only nonconductive devices must be used.(e) The use of any machinery, tool, material, or equipment which is not in compliance with any applicable requirements of this chapter is prohibited. Such machinery, tool, material, or equipment must either be identified as unsafe by tagging or locking the controls to render them inoperable or must be physically removed from its place of operation.(3) Head protection. (a) Head protection must meet the requirements of ANSI Z89.1-2014 American National Standard for Industrial Head Protection.(b) Make sure employees wear appropriate protective helmets when exposed to hazards that could cause a head injury. Note: | Examples of this type of hazard include: |
| 1. Flying or propelled objects. |
| 2. Falling objects or materials. |
| 3. Electrical hazards, Class E electrically rated. |
(c) Tower workers. (i) Must wear ANSI Z89.1-2014 Type I Class C climbing helmets while climbing and working at elevations.(ii) Must wear head protection meeting the requirements of ANSI Z89.1-2014 while performing ground work with overhead hazard exposure.(4) Eye protection. Employees must use eye and/or face protection where there is a possibility of injury that can be prevented by such personal protective equipment. In such cases, employers must make conveniently available a type of protection suitable for the work to be performed, and employees must use such protection. | Note: | See WA C 296-800-160 for additional personal protective equipment requirements. |
(5) Foot protection. (a) Substantial footwear, made of leather or other equally firm material, must be worn by employees in any occupation in which there is a danger of injury to the feet through falling or moving objects, or from burning, scalding, cutting, penetration, or like hazard. (i) The soles and heels of such footwear must be of a material that will not create a slipping hazard.(ii) Shoes made of leather or other firm materials that have soft athletic-type soles which would protect employees from foot injuries and at the same time, provide soft and firm footing while working under specialty requirements or with specialty materials are acceptable if meeting safety shoe requirements established by OSHA or ANSI.(iii) Footwear that has deteriorated to a point where it does not provide the required protection must not be used.(b) Traditional tennis shoes, shoes with canvas tops, or thin or soft soled athletic shoes, open toed sandals, slippers, dress shoes or other similar type shoes must not be worn. Soft or athletic-type soles with uppers of leather or other substantial material may be used where firm footing is desired and where minimal danger of injury to feet from falling or moving objects.(c) Safety-toe footwear for employees must meet the requirements and specifications in ASTM, F2413-2011.(6) Portable power equipment. (a) All portable power equipment used in the telecommunications industry must be appropriately grounded.(b) Nominal 120V, or less, portable generators used for providing power at work locations do not require grounding if the output circuit is completely isolated from the frame of the unit.(c) Grounding must be omitted when using soldering irons, guns or wire-wrap tools on telecommunication circuits.(7) Vehicle-mounted utility generators. Vehicle-mounted utility generators used for providing nominal 240V AC or less for powering portable tools and equipment need not be grounded to earth if all of the following conditions are met: (a) One side of the voltage source is solidly strapped to the metallic structure of the vehicle;(b) Grounding-type outlets are used, with a "grounding" conductor between the outlet grounding terminal and the side of the voltage source that is strapped to the vehicle;(c) All metallic encased tools and equipment that are powered from this system are equipped with 3-wire cords and grounding-type attachment plugs, except as designated in this subsection.(d) Under the following conditions the frame of a vehicle may serve as the grounding electrode for a system supplied by a generator located on the vehicle: (i) The frame of the generator is bonded to the vehicle frame;(ii) The generator supplies only equipment located on the vehicle and/or cord-connected and plug-connected equipment through receptacles mounted on the vehicle or on the generator;(iii) The noncurrent-carrying metal parts of equipment and the equipment grounding conductor terminals of the receptacles are bonded to the generator frame; and(iv) The system complies with all other provisions of this section.(e) Neutral conductor bonding. A neutral conductor must be bonded to the generator frame if the generator is a component of a separately derived system. No other conductor need be bonded to the generator frame.(8) Portable lights, tools and appliances. When operated from commercial power such metal parts of these devices must be grounded, unless these tools or appliances are protected by a system of double insulation, or its equivalent. Where such a system is employed, the equipment must be distinctively marked to indicate double insulation.(9) Fire extinguishers. (a) Fire extinguishers must be provided for the protection of both the building structure and the occupancy hazards contained therein conforming to WAC 296-800-300.(b) All vehicles in the field must have fire extinguishers when performing work that could cause an ignition source. | Note: | Ignition sources include the following, but are not limited to: |
| * Welding; |
| * Cutting; |
| * Grinding; |
| * Generator use; |
| * CAD welding; |
| * Propane torches; or |
| * Smoking. |
(c) Employees required to use fire extinguishers must be trained on the location and operation of fire extinguishers.(d) Any fire extinguishers showing defects must be removed from service.(e) Fire extinguishers must be thoroughly inspected monthly to ensure serviceability.(f) Fire extinguishers must be inspected annually, recharged, or repaired to ensure reliability.(g) Each fire extinguisher must have a durable tag securely attached to show the maintenance or recharge date and the initials or signature of the person performing this service. | Note: | For additional requirements relating to portable fire extinguishers see WAC 296-800-300. |
Wash. Admin. Code § 296-32-22540
Adopted by WSR 17-20-069, Filed 10/2/2017, effective 1/1/2018Amended by WSR 20-20-109, Filed 10/6/2020, effective 11/6/2020